


Needed Words

by Merfilly



Series: Rise Up, Rebels [13]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 17:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6479386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan and Anakin speak, getting some of the problems between them into the air.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Needed Words

Obi-Wan managed to not flinch from the sight of the unmasked Anakin sitting inside a sealed chamber with a transparent view. It was designed to allow him to be out of his suit while the med droid did what it could to mitigate some of the damage.

The Emperor had feared the very tool he had made, to leave the damage in place, and seal Anakin into that suit.

"Padmé says you saved her," Anakin said, his voice weak through the intercom speaker. "That you stopped Sidious from stealing her life."

Obi-Wan nodded slowly, before he cleared his throat. "I had failed too many already; I could not fail the last connection I had to what had been most important to me." He did not drop his eyes as Anakin's gaze snapped to his face.

"She was not connected to the Order," Anakin accused, a hint of his jealousy creeping in.

"No. She was connected to you."

The two men held the stare a long moment, before it was Anakin dropping his eyes. "I thought the Order was all you ever loved, if you loved anything."

"The War, Anakin, taught me far more than I ever wished to know about the ways the Order and Republic alike needed reformation. Only, I never got the chance to try and change anything, did I?" A little anger crept into his words, and that, more than anything made Anakin look back at him. Obi-Wan reached up and rubbed his face, tired and worn, wishing he could just wake up and still be a Padawan with a braid getting longer than any other braid in the Temple. Everything had changed just before he lost that… always for the worse, it felt.

"I should have been with you to get Grievous."

Those words slapped Obi-Wan in the face, right back to the present with all the tragedy and pain and… hope?

"I truly thought I could handle it," Obi-Wan told him. "But I failed to see that you needed me, even if neither of us could see in that moment, just how much you did," he said. "Unless I still fail to glimpse the truth of that last meeting between us, before your Fall."

Now Anakin flinched, but he nodded. "I… I wanted to tell you, to confess about Padmé, but I couldn't. I couldn't have you throw it all away again, like you did with my mother!" 

"I know. Padmé told me about the dreams. And… I would have. Part of the problem, with me failing you, Anakin. Part of the problem in general, where the Jedi neglected everything of the self, while expecting us to be whole enough to guard everyone else." 

Anakin dragged his temper back under control at hearing that confession. He wanted to chase the emotions… but there was something sickening him to see Obi-Wan as he looked now, a shell of the man that had fought beside him, and against him in that fateful moment. He looked away, focused on the promise of finally throwing off the yoke of his Master, of killing the man that had lied to him.

"Teach me the shielding technique, and start undoing the traps in my mind."

"As you wish," Obi-Wan told him, forcing aside the past and regrets, to fixate on the hope of saving the people the Empire had beaten to submission.


End file.
